Local pub fires trivia-night host amid row over Nazi jokes

Sydney police uncover cache of explosives, with indication target was synagogue

Australian city’s Jewish community on edge after police — who kept the incident secret until it was leaked — say they’re probing possible connections to recent antisemitic attacks

New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson briefs reporters about a caravan of explosives found in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, with 'indications' that they were meant to target a synagogue, January 29, 2025. (Screen capture via Australian Broadcasting Corporation, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson briefs reporters about a caravan of explosives found in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, with 'indications' that they were meant to target a synagogue, January 29, 2025. (Screen capture via Australian Broadcasting Corporation, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Police in Sydney found a trailer containing explosives, with “some indication” it may have been intended to blow up a synagogue, Australian media reported on Wednesday.

The trailer was discovered on January 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of the center of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

“That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack,” he told a news conference.

“Investigations over the last ten days have progressed — however, there is a lot to do,” he said, explaining police have made “made arrests on the periphery of this job.”

Hudson did not disclose how many arrests were made or what the charges were, if any.

He did say, however, that police “believe there is some connection between some of the targets we’ve charged under Strike Force Pearl” — the NSW initiative, launched last month, to address antisemitic hate crimes — “and this particular investigation.”

“We are still looking for assistance in relation to anyone who saw that caravan parked on the road from December 7,” Hudson said, noting it “was parked in a hazardous position prior to it being moved by a local resident.”

Addressing concern in the community about potential attacks, the deputy police commissioner said, “We believe that we have contained, appropriately, this current threat.”

New South Wales police kept the discovery secret for nine days before it was leaked to the media.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said over 100 officers were investigating the incident, under a joint counter-terrorism operation involving state and federal police.

“This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There is only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism,” he said.

Illustrative — Police stand near houses vandalized with anti-Israel slogans in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, Australia, December 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

In light of the incident, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused Australia of not doing enough to protect its Jewish community.

“The attempted antisemitic terror attack at a synagogue in Sydney is intolerable,” wrote Sa’ar on X.

The latest incident, he said, “joins a long list of antisemitic attacks in Australia, including setting fire to a childcare center in Sydney, firebombing a synagogue in Melbourne, and many other antisemitic attacks.”

“The epidemic of antisemitism is spreading in Australia almost unchecked. We expect the Australian government to do more to stop this disease!” he wrote.

Pub fires trivia host after Nazi jokes, ‘Zionist’ comments

Also this week, a Sydney pub fired a trivia host, after he made a series of offensive Nazi jokes and then responded by mocking a Jewish couple that complained and lashed out online against “Zionists.”

During a trivia night last Wednesday at the Iron Duke Hotel, Jarred Keane also reportedly performed a Nazi salute.

The jokes were prompted by a question — it was not clear from the report who posed it — about billionaire Elon Musk’s Nazi-salute-like gesture at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, according to Sky News.

One attendee, Jonathan Sankey, grandson of Auschwitz survivor and Sydney Jewish Museum founding member Olga Horak, recorded part of the event, and later confronted Keane about the jokes. In audio of the confrontation, the comedian is heard apologizing.

Keane later took to Instagram, however, and ridiculed the complaint, saying, “I was like, ‘yeah, I know. The Nazis are bad. Like, I’m not saying they’re good,” but “these guys are, like, in their twenties. I’m like, oh I’m sorry I brought up something that happened to your great-grandparents.”

In another video, Keane ranted against “Zionists,” calling them “disgusting people” who are “not welcome” at his events, and used explicit language to describe them. He further claimed that his trivia nights were fun “unless you’re a conservative or a Zionist” and accused Israel of genocide.

Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected allegations of genocide during its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The Iron Duke Hotel confirmed Keane had been dismissed and distanced itself from his statements, saying in a letter shared with Sky News that “the hotel does not share the views expressed by Jarred on social media” and “disapprove[s] of Jarred’s use of the topic of Nazism… to evoke humour, in light of current domestic and international events.”

This handout photo taken and released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on December 10, 2024 shows Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (C) and members of the local Jewish community visiting the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 10, 2024, after it was set ablaze on December 6. (Handout / DEPARTMENT OF PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET / AFP)

Surge in antisemitic attacks

Australia has seen a surge in antisemitic activities since the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which started the war in Gaza.

The number of anti-Jewish incidents in Australia quadrupled in the year after the attack, according to data from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

These have included several arson attacks on synagogues and community centers in Sydney and Melbourne and the repeated spraying of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel graffiti on properties or vehicles in areas with large Jewish populations. Last month also saw a neo-Nazi rally at the Melbourne parliament.

In December 2024, New South Wales launched Strike Force Pearl, whose team includes counter-terrorism and special tactics officers, to investigate antisemitic hate crimes in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, following an arson attack on the Adass Synagogue.

Australia’s federal police also launched Operation Avalite to investigate the surge in antisemitic crimes that has followed the Hamas attack in Israel.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to adopt tougher measures to protect the country’s Jewish community, but there has been no noticeable decline in incidents yet.

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